In order that a software product can be released in many countries, the software product goes through a process known as ‘localization’ in which various aspects of the user interface (UI) are modified for the specific country. Localization often includes translation of all the string elements within the UI of the product and any other language specific parts (e.g. hotkeys, units, sizes) from the language in which it was originally written to the language for the specific country.
For some software products and also for hardware products, changes must also be made to ensure that the operation of the product complies with local legislation. For example, there may be different regulations controlling the permitted electromagnetic emissions of a device and some countries require that a camera phone provides an audible indication when an image is captured. These different regulations often lead to manufacturers producing different models of a product where each model is aimed at a specific market and has been tailored to meet the appropriate standards and comply with the legislation in that market.